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Every student at the University of Louisville gives money to the Student Government Association. The expectation is that the SGA will return the favor by representing the students’ interests to U of L’s administration. But what happens when the SGA doesn’t hold up its end of the bargain?
Certainly there is an element of trust between students and the SGA. SGA President O.J. Oleka realizes this, and takes his role seriously. There must be accountability for SGA, though, and if anyone is going to provide oversight, it must be the students.
Free shirts, lunch and a bus ride to Frankfort may be acceptable if students are rallying for lower tuition; the same is true for pizza at Listen Up Legislators events. However, it is unacceptable for the top four, as well as the chief of staff, to jet across the country on the students’ dime.
According to Chief of Staff Andrew Carroll, SGA spent $400 a person on airfare and hotel accommodations. Add on conference registration, and the trip probably cost $4,000. Carroll tried to spin this by saying SGA took the money from last year’s budget. What did last year’s seniors gain by this year’s SGA going to a conference? If the SGA has money leftover at the end of the year, it should be given back to the students that first gave it to SGA.
When pressed about how SGA has been a voice for students, most students are at loss. SGA has been accepted as a white elephant and students give SGA money every year, but it’s difficult to point to its actual contributions. If you’re lucky enough to make it to the top of SGA, a full scholarship, an impressive résumé and conferences in D.C. await. If you’re not, you’re stuck paying for the privileges of the few.
The mandatory meal plan is a good example of this. The SGA leadership was different in 2008, but the same ineptitude was evident. Rather than actually listening to students, most of whom are opposed to spending more money, SGA projected its agenda on students. In an e-mail to students, then-president Rudy Spencer said: “Students via SGA pushed the University to make this change [meal plan]… SGA was strategic in advocating student demands for years (especially since 2006) and its advocacy worked.”
While we’re still living with the meal plan, Oleka appears conscious of SGA errors of the past. Oleka vows to improve communication between students and the SGA. He said it is the top priority of this SGA. Nice thought, but every SGA president has said that.
It’s clear that SGA still has a long way to go. A student government honestly listening to its student body would hear opposition to a $4,000 trip to D.C.
